I’m new to making music with a DAW and I’m not sure how to handle volume levels. Pretty much everything has a volume level and I don’t know where to begin… This is what I’m doing right now:
I leave my computer volume at 100%
I’m leaving the Renoise master volume at it’s default level.
Each track has a different level but is set anywhere from -8 dB – 0 dB depending on what instruments I’d like to bring to the foreground
When I playback the song the loudest peak is around -36 dB and the average level is around -48 dB. Is that what I should be shooting for?
From what I understand, the idea is to keep all tracks at a very low volume so that they can be carefully raised during the mastering process. The goal will be to have “master track” volume hover close to 0 dB, but not exceed it. (because anything past that point will have clipping problems)
I can’t help but think I am way off here. Any help will be appreciated.
there’s nothing wrong with keeping your track levels as low are you are, from a quality perspective. The only real problem is that other sounds might end up being really loud (like other programs, samples, default instrument levels) relative to your project. And that can be scary
I aim for my tracks to peak between -18 and -12 dB. The mix gets up to about -6 or so.
I would advise against “hovering close to 0 dB”. There are tens of thousands of posts on the internet arguing for and against this practice, so you can make up your own mind.
I’ve attached a few files that are also good reading that you can peruse as you explore this stuff. They’re taken from the thread why do your recording sound like ass?
there’s a LOT of reading in all the links I gave you… and you can skip it all (and maybe should :)). But if you want to understand this stuff in more depth, it’s all there.
If you just want to get going (which I totally understand…)
Set your sources to output at -18 to -12 dB (e.g. use the sample volume in xrni to set the initial volume)
Any time you add an effect, adjust the output volume so it sounds about the same level as with the effect by-passed
Agreed, with digital 16, 24 bit etc, you can afford to have the levels low, it also gives you more headroom when processing, look up about ‘gain staging’, it’s useful to know about.
Also never, EVER clip any signal in the box (computer/daw/etc), another thing, when keeping the levels low, you will have to turn up the speakers a bit, compared to having the levels high and speaker volume down. But be careful with system notification sounds as theyll still be at full volume ! Unless you have the option to make them play through the internal speakers/onboard soundcards etc.
And definitely A/B When processing, as pat said, if you add a compressor and it sounds louder than when bypassed, it can appear to sound better because it’s louder… So make sure the output of that compressor matches the volume of the sound bypassed, you can easily A/B then which sounds better at the same volume.
Thanks for the replies! I’m going to check out those links and hopefully I’ll have a better grasp of this… It might be awhile before I can make something worth listening to, but in the meantime, it would be nice to understand how to create a track that will sound just as great in the car as it does in Renoise.
Thanks for the replies! I’m going to check out those links and hopefully I’ll have a better grasp of this… It might be awhile before I can make something worth listening to, but in the meantime, it would be nice to understand how to create a track that will sound just as great in the car as it does in Renoise.
Don’t worry, just have fun and learn, over time you’ll improve, when you listen to music in a car, it will sound different to your room, mainly because your room/speaker environment is different to your car.
Also be aware of ear fatigue (when producing), it’s better to listen at low volume than high, if you have your volume too high, your ears will get tired and your judgement will be clouded. There’s a saying, if it sounds good at low volume, it’ll sound good at high volume, but not the other way around
